I am an idiot with HTML, but as with many things, with practice comes, um, minimum competence? My posts will be prettier in the future, I promise.
That being said...
News corporations are jumping on the “new media” bandwagon. On their websites, these news sources now allow the average viewer to determine what is news, to communicate with reporters, and engage in their own discussions about a topic. The only problem is these corporations need to know exactly who you are. Oh yes, and they reserve the right to do with your work what they will.
MSNBC has adopted FirstPerson, a riff on CNN’s iReport. What’s exciting about this is you determine what is news by sending in your own words, sounds, or videos. What’s not so exciting is they reserve the right to edit your work, broadcast it in whole or in part (or out of context), and there is no guarantee your work will be posted. In order to be eligible for submission, you must provide your contact info (including phone number) and sign a Terms of Agreement. You need all contact information (including street address) to even comment on a message board or blog, and even then, MSNBC has to approve it before it’s posted.
CNN operates along the same line as MSNBC. Using iReport, you can submit your own news, but again you need to sign a Terms of Use Agreement, fill out all your contact information, and allow CNN the authority to edit your work as well as give them full discretion as to whether or not your topic is important enough in the first place. The same is true for all comments and message boards. Finding the blog link is difficult (it’s at the veeeeeeeeery bottom).
Being from San Francisco, I read the Chronicle (sfgate.com, actually, which is an amalgamation of local sources) a lot. Compared to CNN and MSNBC, the Chronicle is a little more lenient with its user requirements. To comment on blogs or messages or any news article, you only need your name, e-mail, zip code, year of birth, and gender. They don’t ask for phone numbers or street addresses, and they don’t need to review your comment before posting. However, because the Chronicle is small in comparison to national media outlets, there is no iReport or anything of that nature, but I’m willing to bet, because it is San Francisco, that’s not far behind.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for audience participation. It’s a step toward true democratization of the media. But why does CNN need my phone number? And why should I allow someone to butcher my work?
I get all my CCT readings jumbled up, but I’m fairly certain that one of my readings addressed the issue of online identity and privacy and security, yadda yadda. Once I think of it, I’ll post again, along with a review of Dan Gilmor’s We The Media, which ties nicely with my rhetorical questions above.
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11:39 PM Edit
Stephen Colbert just called MSNBC the "filet-o-fish" of TV news, since it rebroadcast original 9/11 footage yesterday. I'm too tired to be disgusted, so anyone else have any comments?
1 comment:
MSNBC&CNN well are two gov. robots (eww robots) that very well know they dont need dumbasses to volutarily submit their info so they can have it. I wish there was some way I could go back in time and tell young AJ "hey mother fucker do you really know where thats going" before I even typed my name on the net.
Did who ever created the internet ever realize that they were creating something that would one day share everyones secrets with the govski.
i love all the new posts keep 'em commin... its my fav on down time at work.. no more myspace it giving me brain tumors.
_AJF
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